


Breath of a Brand New Animal

by TheEmotionAngel42



Series: BNA & KNY Series Universe [1]
Category: BNA: Brand New Animal (Anime), 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime), 鬼滅の刃 | Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Kimetsu Gakuen (Kimetsu no Yaiba), Canon - Anime Dub, Canon - Anime Sub, Crossover Pairings, Developing Friendships, Family Feels, Gen, Good Friend Kamado Tanjirou, Kamado Tanjirou is a Ray of Sunshine, Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga Spoilers, Mentioned Demon Slayer Corps, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Protective Kamado Tanjirou, canon fusion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmotionAngel42/pseuds/TheEmotionAngel42
Summary: After being morphed into a tanuki beastman, Tanjirou Kamado goes to seek refuge. Wanting to find answers about this disease, he goes to Animacity. Along the way, he receives the aid of wolf beastman, Shirou Ogami, helping beastmen, and learns more about this city then he initially thought.
Relationships: Kamado Nezuko & Kamado Tanjirou, Kamado Tanjirou & Ogami Shirou, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: BNA & KNY Series Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801876
Kudos: 26





	1. Runaway Little Raccoon

**Author's Note:**

> I REGRET NOTHING FROM THIS! But also I might not be able to update the stories for a bit so look out for that.

Deep inside the empty dark hallways of the subway, an ATM machine was there with only a poster next to it that showed a picture of a human hand and a beast-like claw holding hands as it reads 'Let's Hold Hands! Animal Rights Day!'. Just then, a figure raced past it and went to the ticket machine, covering his body with a brown dirty cloth as a cloak.

The figure looked around a bit, making sure that he was alone before holding up a dark brown patch claw hand with light brown fur skin from the cloak and insured a card in, he pressed a few buttons to withdraw some money from the ATM when the sound of footsteps coming caught his attention. The figure looked around frantically trying to find a place to hide, something had caught his eye and he immediately went to it.

In no time, a group of six human thugs walked towards the now empty space of where the cloaked figure once was at. The group stopped at the poster, looking at it for a while with disgust before one of them came up to it and pulled out a black spray bottle, then he sprays painted it. When he finished it they all laughed at it and started to walk away from it without a care in the world of what they've done to it. Once the humans were out of sight, up in the air vent, the gate opened slowly before it was pulled off to reveal the cloaked figure again.

Under the shadow of the cloak from the dim-lit lights revealed a pair of ruby red eyes and few stands of ruffled dark red hair with black tips. He held a green hemp leaf pattern wallet with his mouth as he set the gate down gently on the floor and landed safely down, placing the gate back on the air vent. The figure held onto the cloak as he walked towards the poster, to see what they had done to it. He clutches the cloak tightly at the sight in front of him, then ran off down the hallway, leaving the poster as in his mind went back to what it read when it was vandalized.

'BEASTMEN SHOULD DIE'

* * *

The figure ran out of the subway tunnels and ran through the alleyways and towards a bus station where he could see one Route 66 bus ready to leave, along the way he passes by a large tv where it was broadcasting the protests of the debates about these others calling themselves 'beastmen' as such it became a riot. He quietly reaches towards the bus and hops on top of it. He peeks over the edge of the bus to make sure no one has seen him, the bus started to move and he quickly held on tight as it departs from the station.

The bus drove out of the city to the outskirts and passes through a mountainous, coastal road. The figure looked around himself, making sure he was safe before lifting the hood of his cloak off to reveal the teenage tanuki beastman himself.

Tanjirou Kamado, with the rest of his ruffled, dark red hair with black tips, combed back to expose his forehead, as well as a short ponytail. He has a scar on the top left of his forehead, also wears a distinct pair of hanafuda earrings, with the image of a white-and-red flower, that could be compared to the sun. A bushy dark red tail with a black tip, came out from his hind, along with pointy ears sticking through his hair. He wears a white t-shirt under a green checkered pattern hoodie zip-up jacket with the sleeves rolled up and plain black knee-length short pants, as well as a pair of red tennis shoes.

Tanjirou let out a loud sighed of relief as he sat there, relieved that he made out of the city alive and looks over his left to gaze over the sea to a city on the horizon, the city of where he was going to.

"There it is, Animacity." He said with a smile. Then, he takes out something from his bushy tail and held it with both hands. It was his phone, he unlocks it, looks over his Facelook and sees a video, and clicks on it.

In the video, it shows a man sitting with a gentle and kind smile at the camera. He has light skin with a few purple patches and black shoulder-length hair, pointy ears, and kind lavender eyes. He wears a black button-up shirt with a long white kimono jacket with a pink and purple mist like pattern that starts around the lower back/waist, plain black pants.

" _Ever since we've established the Beastmen Territory Law, we managed to develop Animacity,_ " He says, with a calm tone in his voice. " _a city where beastmen can truly live as themselves._ "

The video shows the picture of the city, and Tanjirou compares it to the city over the seas. He smiles, having to being able to get there in time. Tanjirou looks down at his phone again. This time, the video shows the same man from before with another man but he has blond hair and wears a dark teal suit.

" _We are currently cooperating on the Beastmen Special Zone Development Protect_ , _Beast New Age SYLVASTA Pharmaceuticals._ "

Just then, his phone suddenly rang, pulling him out of his thoughts and looks at the picture. The picture shows a woman with a gentle face and purple eyes, along with her black hair pulled back into a bub. On the bottom of the captions, it reads 'MOM'

"Oh, Mom's calling me," Tanjirou said, sitting up to look at the call. He was about to press 'open' when an arrow suddenly came out of nowhere and pierced his phone, making it destroyed and flying off his hand. He gasped and looks over his shoulder to see two motorcycles and a black van behind the bus, with the same humans from before riding them with weapons in their hands.

One of them, a female, held a crossbow up and fired an arrow at him, but because of his athletic ability, he quickly dodges the arrow in time. Making him fall off the bus, but before he crashed down on the pavement his tail rapidly expands and cushions his fall. Landed on one knee and claw on the ground. His eyes narrowed when he sees the group of humans driving towards him and he cursed under his breath before he ran off with the group of thugs behind him.

He kept running when they were catching up to him, one guy tried to bash him on the head with a pipe but he dodged it. Jumping up and landing on the guard rails, he kept on running, trying to outrun them but they were still catching up to him. So he thinks he could lose them so he jumped down and slid down the hill, dodges some bushes and branches as well before landing down on the embankment below. He looks over his shoulder and sees the biker gang up there had stopped their vehicles and slides down making him run away before they reached down and catch up to him.

Tanjirou ran through the forest, trying his best to outrun the thugs on his tail.

Just when he thought he was safe, a wooden sword came down and hits him in the forehead, making him a little dizzy and stoping his tracks. The human behind him who had the wooden sword tried to hit him again but he dodges a few blows before he was caught off guard when he was hit in the back by a pipe. Tanjirou was knocked down on his stomach as the biker thugs circle around him.

"Damn beastman," One of the biker thugs says holding his wooden sword over his shoulder.

"We came easily see right through you," The only girl of the group says, aiming her crossbow at Tanjirou. Then, a biker with his helmet still on walks over to him, pulling out a metal walker.

Tanjirou frowns at them, pulling himself up and on his knees. "I don't know who you guys are, but I don't want any trouble. I'm just trying to get to Animacity."

The biker tsked at that. "Is that so?" He says, pointing the walker at Tanjirou. "This is the path that everyone who escapes to Animacity takes, and you'll bite the dust if you stick around here!"

"I don't want to unless you guys really want to do this," Tanjirou says.

"Oh believe us we do," The group aims their weapons at Tanjirou when the biker said that. "you monsters are always multiplying... it's a goddamn eyesore!"

Tanjirou narrows his eyes at that, standing up and looks at them as the same thug from before held the wooden sword up. "Drop dead you freak!" He says before he went to swing at him. But just as it was about to hit him, a voice suddenly calls out to them.

"Excuse me~ Everyone~!"

The group of thugs jumped back when a figure had come up from behind them from the shadows.

Tanjirou blinks at the sight of the figure, the figure was a petite woman, she must be a few years older than him, but she was very small.

She was pale-skinned, dark purple hair that fades into lavender purple all fastened with a white and purple butterfly ornament. She also has eye-catching purple eyes. She was wearing a dark purple sweater, white butterfly wing pattern hooded overcoat, white belt, and a pair of blue skinny jeans tapered at the end, as well as black high-heeled boots.

this strange woman that appeared out of nowhere stalks towards them and stops only a few feet away from them. But he felt a chill down his spine when he smells the anger from her, hiding behind that smile on her face.

"Could you all stop that for a second, please?" She asks, with a friendly tone in her voice.

"What's it to you?" The biker thug questioned her, the woman just smiles at him and the others.

"Why this boy happens to be one of my precious customers, so please be gentle." She answered.

The girl didn't like that answer so she fired an arrow at the woman but she dodged it with a swift jump. The woman comes back down in a crouch, but they all saw that she had a long dark purple with a white patch tail behind her back, that was when Tanjirou's eyes widen when he saw the woman had a very angry aura around her, and she suddenly starts to transform in front of them. Dark purple cat ears on her head, her skin furred to dark purple with a white patch around her muzzle and paws, and her eyes slit.

"Shooting an arrow at me...?" She says, she had a smiling fanged grin on her face. But Tanjirou knew that she was very angry at the thugs. "Isn't that... a bit _rude_?"

Tanjirou heard some noises and looks over with the group of thugs to see two more shadows transforming. One was a woman who had transformed into a warthog-like beastman, and the other transformed a beastman-like hyena.

"Let's dispose of these guys already." The warthog lady says, which Tanjirou hopes that it was meant for the thugs. Her partner, the hyena, just growled and hissed at the biker thugs, showing off his very sharp teeth.

The cat-lady just smiles at them, without a care about the thugs. "It would be such a pain if you killed them, so try to hold back a bit okay?" This made them a bit happy about it by their smell, which Tanjirou was uncomfortable with.

Without any delay, the girl tried to shoot them but the warthog lady easily overpowered her by taking the crossbow from her and hoisting her in the air. The hyena man raced towards one of the biker thugs and kicked him with his own nailed bat in the face. The warthog lady punched the guy with the biker helmet out and raced towards the other guy with the wooden sword who was trying to run away from her but she head-butted him from behind hard.

Tanjirou blinked in surprise at the fighting, his mouth gaping as the beastmen fought the thugs like they were nothing. Were all beastmen this supernaturally strong? He feared to know the answer to that question.

"Are you okay?"

Tanjirou jumped back and held his hands up. "Sorry if I had startled you," He looked and saw that it was that smiling cat-lady, but she was giving him a genuine smile then the one she gave the thugs. "I just wanted to make sure if you were okay."

Tanjirou blinked at that before lowering his guard down which the cat-lady seemed to appreciate.

"What's your name?" The cat beastman said Tanjirou smiles at her and bows a bit in greeting.

"I'm Tanjirou Kamado! What's yours?" Tanjirou introduces himself, not bothered by the fight behind them as it was still going.

"I am Shinobu Kochou." The cat-lady, Kocho, replied, placing a paw over her heart. "I'm the one who extends her hand to beastmen in trouble, a volunteer if you would."

Tanjirou awed as the fight in the background was going on, Kochou places a claw on his back and walks him off a bit.

"The path to Animacity is always ridded with beast hunters like them," She tells him.

"Really? So that's who those guys were!" Tanjirou said, realizing that he probably could have been killed over there.

"Yes, but not to worry! We'll take you there to Animacity." Kochou says to him, Tanjirou's face brightens up at that.

"Oh, that's so nice of you, Kochou-san!" He asked her. But Shinobu stops and points a clawed finger at him

"Of course this won't come cheap, you'll have to pay up after this," Kochou says.

"Huh? But you said that you were a volunteer, though!" Tanjirou protested.

"I said that we'll take you there but I didn't say it was cheap," Kochou hummed, an innocent look on her face as she holds a clawed finger over her cheek. "guess I'll take all of your money then."

"Eh?! B-But why?!" Tanjirou exclaimed. Kochou looks at him with a smug closed-eye grin now and held out her paw.

"It's just the price of life Kamado-kun, so don't be such a downer." Tanjirou frowned at that. He knew even if he didn't give his money she could probably have some of her _friends_ steal it for her and left him for dead. But he also knows that if he _did_ give Kochou all of it he probably won't last a weak without dying in starvation.

So, Tanjirou had to comply, only grabbing some of his money from his bushy tail, and handed it to Kochou. She smiled at him after he does this, not making Tanjirou any better now that he's lost most of his money to a small, intimidating, and fearless cat-burglary.

* * *

After taking care of the biker thugs and leaving the woods, Kochou explains that they would be taking a boat to Animacity, making Tanjirou a bit curious and wonder cause he never had been on a boat before. She assures him that this way they will be taking him straight to the city this way so he couldn't complain about that. So they boarded the boat, and the hyena beastman from before drove the boat off to Animacity.

As the boat was moving along, Tanjirou laid his head on his arms as he looked over the distance to Animacity with a tired look. Kochou was sitting next to him as she was counting the money given to her.

"Tired?" Kochou asked, noticing Tanjirou's long face. Tanjirou turns his head and nodded a bit at that.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to sleep properly from now on," Kochou gives an assuring smile as she places the money in her pocket.

Tanjirou looks over the city, unsure about this as much as he wants too. He looks back at her. "So... is Animacity really only for beastmen?"

"Yes, that's right," Kochou nodded, tilting her head to the side. "are you an outlier as well?"

Tanjirou looks down and a tired frown on his face. "Well, I guess you could say that." He says quietly as he closed his ruby-red eyes, reminiscing back to his life at a time when he was there.

* * *

_Sitting there, in his darkened bedroom, sitting there by his bed, feeling so many emotions in himself._

_Lost... confused... afraid..._

_He had no idea how to feel any of this himself. He was sitting there, voices on the other side of his bedroom door whispering, but he paid them no mind, his gazes was at the only light in this grim time, the light that was peeking out from the curtains._

_Tanjirou wonders if he could take the risk and take a peek at the outside world. But knowing that he could never be the same again, makes his heartache in pain and despair._

* * *

Tanjirou was brought out of his thought when he felt a hand on his head, he looks up at Kocho who was in front of him with a sorrowful look on her face and placed a paw on his head. She offers him a handkerchief, white, has little butterflies sewed into the right side, that was when he realized that he was crying when he felt some stinging in his eyes. Tanjirou gladly takes it and drys his eyes as Kochou talks to him.

"Don't worry, you'll feel right at home here," Kochou says, giving Tanjirou a warm smile. He blinks at her, taken aback by that before returning that smile.

"Yeah, thank you." He says.

When they made it to the docks the sun had already set making it night time, the two beastmen were tying up the boat as Tanjirou was talking to Kocho.

"Alright, here we are," Kocho says, patting Tanjirou's back. "okay Kamado-kun, once you're off this boat we'll be back to being complete strangers."

"Got it," Tanjirou nodded before looking back at her and holds the handkerchief up to return it but the cat-beastman shook her head and gestures the handkerchief.

"Keep it, you look like you need it more than I do," Kochou tells him. Tanjirou looks back at the handkerchief, then at Kocho, and he smiles.

"Thank you, Kochou-san!" Tanjirou thanked, jumping off the boat to the docks, looking and waves at her as he walks off on his own. Kocho waves back at him until he couldn't see him anymore.

* * *

Wandering the empty dark streets of the city, Tanjirou looks around trying to see if he can spot anyone as he traveled through the darkened streets and into what looks to be the center of the town. When he gets to the center he looks around, seeing not a single living creature in sight.

' _What is this? Why is it so quiet?_ ' Tanjirou thought, looking around.

Just then, he caught a glimpse of something in his eye and looks over where the full moon was at. On top of one of the buildings, Tanjirou saw what looks to be a glowing silver wolf standing there watching for something up there. He tried to squint his eyes to get a better look when a howl was heard and quickly turns toward the empty space on his left. Seeing a pair of glowing eyes from the darkness, then more howls were heard and suddenly more pairs of glowing eyes.

Then, shadowed figures with wolf masks start to come out of the shadows and stalks towards Tanjirou, there were all big and small surroundings. Tanjirou was on alert, looking around at the masked shadowed figures that were surrounding him.

Suddenly the lights turn on, revealing every beastmen instead, throwing their wolf masks into the air and exploded in cheer. The place began to boost up and brighten with beastmen all around eating, playing games, watching the fireworks, taking part in some of the events shown. It was amazing to Tanjirou to be in such a place at this moment, realizing what he had stepped into.

"It's a festival!" Tanjirou yelled out, with a big smile on his face. Right after he said that there was a big screen that was turned on and he saw that he was a pale skinned with purple patches naked mole-rat beastman, on the big screen with a genuine smile on his face. To Tanjirou, he looks very familiar to him somehow from those familiar lavender eyes and the clothes he wore.

"It's the mayor!" An onlooker said. Tanjirou's ear twitches at that, looking up at the screen of the 'mayor'.

"Mayor Ubuyashiki!"

"It's the mayor!"

"Let's go, mayor!"

Mayor Ubuyashiki smiles at the camera as he announces to everyone. "My fellow beastmen, It has been ten years since Animacity was built. The gap between beastmen and humans hasn't been closed yet, regardless, this city will continue to be the safe haven for beastmen. For these past ten years, and for the following ten years... No, for the sake of the future and beyond..."

Mayor Ubuyashiki raised a paw up into the air with a big smile on his face. "Let the celebration of the ten year anniversary begin!" And with that, the whole place exploded in cheers. Tanjirou smiled wide at all the bright faces on the beastmens', the lights and sounds of laughter as they all were celebrating together, not a single one of them was human.

"Everyone here is really a beastman!" Tanjirou cried out with joy, pulling his cloak off and jumping up and down with joy. "I won't need to hide anymore!"

With the band playing and music still going strong, Tanjirou ran around the place, joining in on all the fun everyone beastmen were doing. Not caring about any dark thoughts in his mind but the bright lights and the delicious smells of food in the air. He stands in awe at the sight of the giant wolf skeleton float, marveled by the structure and the details put into it. Then he sees some flamingo-ladies dancing, which he was half tempted to join in but he just loves to watch them perform instead on the sides.

As Tanjirou was traveling around with a smile he was pulled in by the sound of someone shouting at him. "Hello there!" Tanjirou stopped his tracks and looks over to his left to see a very pretty pink tiger beastman with very bright green highlights as stripes and in her braided pink hair. She waves at him, beckoning him to come over. Tanjirou looks around a bit before walking over towards this tiger-lady in a booth.

"You're new here in Animacity aren't you? I don't think I've seen you around," She asked him.

"Oh yeah, I am I just got here," Tanjirou answered.

The deer-lady held out her hand to Tanjirou. "I'm Mitsuri Kanroji! Nice to meet you!"

"Oh uh," Tanjirou stuttered, taking her hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet you too, Kanroji-san! I'm Tanjirou Kamado!"

"'Tanjirou Kamado' huh? That's a cute new for a cute tanuki like yourself!" Kanroji says, ruffling Tanjirou's hair, making him flustered. Then she pulls out a big candy bag for him. "Here have this as a welcome present!"

"Woah! But that's a lot of candy though! I can just pay for this!" Tanjirou protested but Kanroji insisted.

"No no! You're new here so consider it on the house! I have a restaurant here that my family owns! So maybe I'll see you around!" She says, shoving the bag to Tanjirou and pushes him off. "Now go on and have fun out there!"

Kanroji waves him off and Tanjirou waves back as he walks off with the bag of candy in his hands. Tanjirou thinks for a second about the candy bag before he opens it and pulls out a delicious looking red candy apple that was shaped like a cute bear. Tanjirou giggled at the candy apply before he took a bite and his mouth quirked up at the sweetness that touched his tongue from the candy apple, it was so sweet and good that Tanjirou quickly took another bite of the candy apple.

As Tanjirou was enjoying his candy apple, he accidentally bumped into someone making him stumble back. "Sorry... I wasn't looking where I was--" He cut off when he saw who he bumped into. Standing there was a silver wolf beastman, wearing a trench coat, a black collar around his neck, plain black pants, and black gloves.

He was rather intimidating and tall in Tanjirou's opinion.

Despite the fearsome appearance, this wolf-man has tears leaking down his face, Tanjirou would have been confused and disguised as to why this wolf-man was crying over a celebration if not for his keen sense of smell. He couldn't have missed the overwhelming smell of happiness coming off of him if it weren't for the other smells he picked up on.

The wolf beastman doesn't seem to notice him, he just stares off as his tears were still leaking. "What a nice smell..." He mumbled, seems to have lost in thought.

"'Smell?'" Tanjirou asked him, taken aback by that. The wolf beastman nodded as the tears still leaked. "It's the smell of beasts filled with joy and happiness."

"Huh? Really?" Tanjirou didn't have an impressive sense of smell, like his father, but he could guess it was from his wolf keen senses.

"Celebrate, it's the festival that beastmen have waited for thousands of years." The wolf-man says to him, letting the tears stream down on his face, showing how much he was relieved from the years of torment and sorrow.

Tanjirou was curious about those words that he said, but he knew that there can't be any tears in a place meant to be joyful. So Tanjirou looks away from him for a bit, puts his candy bag under his left armpit, along with his candy apple in his left hand, and pulls out the handkerchief from his pocket.

"Here, you should-- huh?" Tanjirou stared at where the wolf beastman was, now gone just like that. Tanjirou looks around trying to find him, but no such luck was there.

"Where did he go?"

* * *

Kagaya was enjoying the view down below from his clear window glass from the office tower. He was still in his naked mole-rat beast form, holding a cane to keep him standing. He could see the smiles and laughs from the bright lights and faint music, already knowing that they were having as much of a good time as he has hoped they do.

So imagine his surprise when Amane walks in and tells him that the Prime Minister, Shiramizu, decides to call for a meet-up on the exact night Animacity was celebrating their ten year anniversary.

He sighs at this new before telling Amane to turn on the big screen. She obliged, pushes a few buttons on the wall to pull down the big screen, and turning on lights in the room. Kagaya went into his human form, cane in hand. Amane does the same and stands aside. The two looked up at the monitor, there an image of a man sitting inside a limousine during the night.

"Congratulations on the ten year anniversary, Mayor Ubuyashiki." Prime Minister, Shiramizu, starts off saying. Though Kagaya had a feeling that Shiramizu doesn't really care about it.

"It was only thanks to your comprehension, Prime Minister," Kagaya tells him.

Shiramizu laughed at that. "Don't get me wrong though, the Beastmen Special Zone isn't impenetrable," He says. "if you beastmen start behaving dangerously... I don't know what could happen or when."

"I'm sincerely counting on you." And with that, Shiramizu cuts off. Kagaya sighs again, closing his eyes tiredly.

"Same as always, huh?" He says. "I can't tell if he's celebrating with us or he's threatening us."

"Even so, it has been ten years now," Amane says, appearing with two champaign glasses. Kagaya smiles at her and takes a glass from her hand. The lights turned off again, which Kagaya uses this time to turn back into his beastman form again, Amane follows him, transformed into a cub beastman with white fur, a white face, and peach-colored ear innards.

Amane smiles at him, raising her glass up. "To your ten-year fight."

Kagaya raises his glass, smiling back at her. "And to ten more years of Animacity." And with that, the two clank their glasses and drink for their celebration. Kagaya hopes that they can finally have peace for the beastmen and themselves now.

But now Kagaya wonders, if that nagging feeling he has... is just a feel and not something bad right?

... well, he'd be wrong.


	2. A Night to Remember

Shirou had spent his time at the festival walking around, looking over at the happy faces of the beastmen that were finally given a day to celebrate in peace from any filthy humans. Although he does wish to celebrate alongside them, he had his reasons as a protector to them. Specifically, his thoughts went back to that tanuki boy he had bumped into. He had never seen that beastman before in the city, and he had been in Anima-City since it was very young and he had grown to know most of the beastmen here. Of course, being a social worker for the police has its perks from time to time with that.

But over the years he's been protecting this city and beastmen from threats, never making any friends or allies with anyone besides the ones he has since living here. A consequence of being an immortal protector of beastmen and the longing feeling of loneliness in his heart.

While his crow, Kuro, was sitting on his shoulder minding his time, Shirou travels through the crowds not minding anything as he distracts himself from thinking back to that tanuki. Though he's never seen him before, Shirou felt the strangest feeling in both his mind and heart that he had met him somewhere.

Though his memory was still fuzzy so he couldn't get any details yet...

His thoughts were cut off when a loud explosion erupted, he turned and saw the pillars that were holding up the big screen had broken. And low and behold the tanuki boy from before was there, standing there. It was then that the pillars give weight and started falling making everyone near running and screaming in terror. Not wanting to stand for this, Shirou told Kuro to go and send for the detective, leaving a note to explain everything tied on his claw, before running towards the direction where the explosion happened, making sure that every beastmen was safe.

Shirou knew that he will get a talking-to from a certain someone, but that wasn't what he cared about anyways.

This lovely festival has now gone up in flames.

* * *

**A few minutes before...**

Standing next to a stall, Tanjirou was eating some takoyaki he had bought, having already put the half-empty candy bag away in his tail, and with all this excitement he wasn't the least bit tired. He would have gotten a cup of firebull but the strong scent was making his nose sensitive.

"Mm! It's soo tasty!" Tanjirou says as he munches another takoyaki ball and glee in delight at the flavor.

"My, my~! You bought something to eat, huh? And here I thought you were being generous." Tanjirou was startled and jumped back a bit when he felt someone behind himself. He turned and saw that it was the same woman from before to get him to Animacity.

"Kochou-san!" Tanjirou said, realizing this as Kochou straighten up.

Kochou places a paw over her chest. "You didn't think I wouldn't know about the rest of the money, would you?" She says, sounding a bit hurt.

"W-well I needed my money for food and live!" Tanjirou explained to her. Kochou leaned over to his face, making him lean back from her.

"You kids these days can't trust anyone, not even the adults." She says, with a smile still on her feline face.

"I just needed the money, it wasn't like I was gonna give you every cent of it," Tanjirou said. Until a thought came across his head, making him frown at her. "Hey wait a minute, weren't we back at being complete strangers?" Unannounced to him, except Kochou, he didn't realize that someone, a monkey, had snuck behind him and had stuck their hand inside his tail, searching inside.

"Do I really look like the kind of person to be selfish to you?" Kochou says, playing innocent. "That's breaking my poor heart, Kamado-kun!"

Right after she said that Tanjirou felt something popped off his tail and turned his head to see a monkey beastman run off with his wallet, he places his hands in his tail and realized that it was his wallet the monkey had stolen. "Ah! A thief!"

Kochou chuckled at this, not making Tanjirou's situation any much better. "Oh, you poor thing. You should be more careful~! Animacity is full of sneaky people you know!"

Tanjirou looked back and forth frantically, stuck in wanting to argue with her about this, or just go after the thief. Kochou must have seen right through him when she gives him a smug look on her face.

"You sure wanna argue with me? Or catch that sneaky pickpocketer that's getting away~?" She questioned. Tanjirou cursed loudly, now having the energy he needs and races off.

The monkey was up ahead, running through the crowd as Tanjirou chases right behind him. "Hey, come back!" He yells out to him. The monkey then ran through the pillars under the big tv, Tanjirou following.

"Stop, give it back!" Tanjirou panted as he stops in the middle of the pillars, he looks around frantically, trying to find that monkey thief. Tanjirou turns to his left and saw a fox beastman in a repairman's attire crouching under a pillar. It was then that Tanjirou had smelled something off about that beastman, he could quite pick what it was considering has beastman scent was distracting him, but it smelled something else too.

The fox beastman turns towards him, the two stare at each other. Before the fox adjusts his hat to cover his eyes and leaves with a briefcase in his hand. Tanjirou looked where he went confused, wondering why someone like him was here.

Tanjirou realized that he still needed to catch that monkey and he looked around. He kept looking and looking but no such luck. He sighed in defeat, letting his ears drool as he leaned his fist on the pillar on his left.

"Damn it... I lost him!" He says, slamming his fist on the pillar. Right after he did, and an explosion went off behind him, making him jump back and cover.

When the sound off was over Tanjirou looks over and saw that the pillars were damaged, causing now the scaffolding to tip off balance. He heard the crowd behind him scream as everyone was running away in a panic, Tanjirou was about to run away as well until something caught his eye and saw an elder goat beastman slowly walking away, but not fast enough to outrun.

He cursed under his breath before he ran towards the old goat. "Sorry about this, sir!" Tanjirou apologized before hosting the old goat beastman over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could from the falling scaffolding. As he rushes he tries to run off the path but saw that the scaffolding was falling fast.

' _No, no, no, no, NO!!_ ' Tanjirou cursed in his thoughts as he closed his eyes, waiting for the scaffolding to fall on top of them. But it never happened as someone rushes in the last second and pushes them out of the way in time for the scaffolding crash down. Tanjirou slowly opened his eyes, now realizing he's not dead, and he found himself on the ground with a few scraps.

He winced as he sat up, coughing a bit from the dust. Looking over, he gasps when he sees the same wolf beastman from before with the old goat beastman under his other arm. "It's you! You're that wolf beastman from before!" Tanjirou says, blinking in surprise. And then seeing the tears still leaking. ' _And he's still crying_?'

Shirou looks over at him before placing the older beastman down on the ground, walks towards the tanuki boy, and grabbed him by the hood of his sweater before lifting him up.

"Was it you? Are you the one who wreaked the beastman festival?" He demanded him, giving him a stern look. The tanuki-boy stares at him in disbelief.

"What?! No, I didn't do it!" He protested. "I was just chasing a thief when I was there, I got frustrated and slightly punched a pillar!"

"That wouldn't make it explode though." Shirou snarled, trying to scare him. But the tanuki-boy frowned at him, not afraid one bit.

"Of course it wouldn't! I'm telling you, I didn't-" The tanuki-boy pauses, his brows narrowed. His face narrowed as if he realized something. "That guy... he smelled off, I smelled it before from when the explosions erupted!"

"'Smelled off?' Who do you mean by that?" Shirou says, making himself question what the tanuki boy was saying.

"Yeah, I think he was a fox beastman, hee must have sneaked around the pillars before." The tanuki-boy tells him. Shirou lets go of his hood after hearing this, making the boy fall on his butt and groan in pain but Shirou paid him no mind as he turns towards where the explosion started.

Shirou sniffs the air and closes his eyes, watching the world around him turn black. Now it was just clouded with golden shadows of the other beastmen and gray shadows of the wreckage. Shirou searches and watched as the shadows of the tanuki boy and that fox he told him appeared before him. He focuses on his scent, looking over as the shadow of the fox beastman that tanuki boy told him had stood and Shirou trailed the scent and watches it makes a turn to the right. Shirou opened his eyes, now knowing that the fox beastman must have escaped into that ally when the explosion happened.

"I see, sorry for the misunderstanding, kid." He apologizes to the tanuki-boy before running off.

Tanjirou watches as he disappears into the dark ally way, wondering where he was going. ' _I wonder what that was about?_ ' He thinks, standing up as he dusted himself off from the dust. He went over to the elder beastman and knelt in front of him. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you when I ran did I?" He asked him.

The elder beastman shook his head only giving a nod as assuring, which Tanjirou sighed in relief. With the old goat beastman unharmed, Tanjirou was reminded of something very important at that moment.

"That's right my wallet!" He exclaimed, wanting to pull his hair for not remembering the problem at hand. Tanjirou looks around, then takes the same ally that the wolf beastman had taken. Not knowing what might have been the day that changes his life forever.

* * *

Trailing the scent was still getting strong, Shirou thinks. He ran as quick as the wind through the dark alleys of the city tracking down the scent as it was still lingering in the air, he had been tracking it for a while but he knew that he was getting closer as the scent was changing color.

Shirou growled, ready to bush that beastman for ruining the festival. But the trail was cut short when Shirou saw a light, he gasped when he opened his eyes. Realizing too late before an explosion erupted beneath his feet.

* * *

Before the explosion erupted, just a few distances away, Tanjirou was in the darkened streets searching for the pickpocketer and his wallet. That was when he heard the explosion go off. He looked back at it in surprise.

' _What the? What's going on?_ ' Tanjirou thought, turning towards the scene. He wanted to continue his search for his wallet until a familiar scent had caught his attention. The smell of rain and ashes drifted in the wind and had reached his nose, making Tanjirou realized who this scent belong to.

' _This scent... it's the wolf-beastman!_ ' Tanjirou's eyes widen at that realization and before he knew it he had broken off running towards where he smelled it.

* * *

Shirou groans when he woke up to finds himself underneath the rumbles of the alley, aspects of fire burning must have been from the explosion when he felt the heat from the rumble.

He heard the sound of laughter from the fox beastman he was tracking in front of him. "What a bummer, it was a scentless bomb. Even a beastman wouldn't be able to notice it." He hears him say, the fox beastman must have thought that Shirou was killed in the explosion. Oh, how wrong he is.

Shirou had enough of him talking so he pulled his hand out of the rumble and grabbed the fox beastman's leg, he can hear the fox beastman gaping and screaming in shock at the sight of his arm grabbing his leg. He didn't give him a chance to finish his cursing as he tossed him in the air, making the fox beastman hit a vent before crashing on a dumpster and landing on his stomach on the ground.

It was then that Shirou emerged from the rumble, with no injure or limp from the explosion. Only the extreme anger in his face as he bares his sharp canines at the fox beastman who coward at the sight of him standing there not injured in any way possible.

"That hurt..." Shirou growled at him, the fox beastman railed back in shock and dismay at him, shivering a bit.

"No way! Are you immortal or something?!" The fox beastman exclaimed, sprinting away from the wolf beastman. Shirou lets him, already knowing that he could track him himself.

"Tell me, why did you ruin the festival?" He confronted him, but the fox beastman didn't respond as he had reached towards a van and hit the back door of it hard before it was ripped open. Revealing a large lion beastman and a deer beastman, holding riffles and large guns in their hands, with the fox beastman now standing in between them. The two larger beastmen then start shooting raining bullets on the wolf beastman but Shirou narrowly dodges them and then leaps into the air and avoids any more bullets.

Shirou stands on the edge of a vent of a building as he watches the interaction with the three beastman, wondering how he was able to survive that explosion but the wolf-man himself didn't find himself to care about such a thing here.

No, all he needs to know was about these three beastmen that were below him.

' _It seems like these guys are pros..._ ' He thought. Shirou closed eyes, sniffing the air while doing so. He watched as everything goes black again and the three beastmen below him were still not much changing, that is until Shirou smells and sees a different scent from them. Standing behind then in a pale red scent were four suited human men.

It was at this revelation that Shirou had put the dots together and this had come very clear to the realization.

' _I see...'_

"HUMANS!!"

And with that, all hell breaks loose.

* * *

Tanjirou ran faster as he tracks down the scent of the wolf beastman from the festival to where the explosion was, having to stop for a moment when he was halfway there by the overwhelming scent of utter fury and viciousness from not only the wolf-man but also three other beastmen from new scents he smelled in the air.

' _They must have been the ones he was after,_ ' Tanjirou thought, looking back when the wolf beastman was running off into the alleyway in such a hurry. ' _they must have set off the bombs._ '

Shots being fired echoed through the streets, making Tanjirou run faster towards it. As he ran he could hear the sounds of fighting going on, making him fear the worst to have come to that wolf-man as he was running towards the lights of fire that he smelled earlier in an ally.

When Tanjirou reached the scene he quickly stopped and steps back as a body was tossed off in front of him, one look at the body and Tanjirou quickly knew it was the fox beastman that had set off the bomb. He looked at him in surprise before looking over and was shocked by the sight in front of him. Two more beastmen, a deer and a lion were pummeled to the ground freeing themselves as the wolf-man that Tanjirou has sought was on top of the rumbles of the explosion, looking at the beastmen with such rage that Tanjirou had never seen in someone before.

Tanjirou quickly hides behind a dumpster as he watches this scene unfold, wanting to see what was going on.

"You damn beastmen who sold their souls to humans... you disgust me," The wolf beastman told the three beastman, raising his left hand up in the air. "you don't deserve it... bastards like you aren't even worth using my claws on."

He looks back at the beastman barging his sharp fangs, eyes glaring at them as he pumped his fist. "My fists are more than enough!"

The lion growls as he pulls his claws and grins at the wolf-man. "Bright it on!" He says as he rips off his shirt. "You better not regret it!"

The two beastmen screamed out their war cries, making Tanjirou coil back and cover his ears at the loud sounds. Once they've stopped, Tanjirou takes his hands off his ears and looks back at the fight.

Just in time to see the lion beastman charging at the wolf-man but he held on strong and tosses the lion to the side. The deer tried the ram the wolf beastman but he sidesteps and flips the deer on his back as he held on to his antlers.

"Let go!" The deer beastmen struggled to grab the wolf-man off of him. But he held him in place by his antlers.

"You have already lost the pride of a beastman..." The wolf-man says to him. "you won't need the pride of a deer either!"

The wolf beastman begins to pull on the antlers making the deer beastman desperately tried to save his antlers. "No, not my antlers!" He cried. "Anything but my antlers!"

But the wolf-man didn't listen to him and successfully pulled the antlers off, in which the deer-beastman cried in pain. After he does this, the lion-beastman was behind him and clasped his large hands on the wolf's head and raised him up.

"I am done with you, lousy bastard!"

The wolf stares at him, not fazed by this. "You think I'm the bastard here, huh?" He says. The wolf-man holds up the discarded antlers and tosses them on the lion's face, making him blind and toss the wolf-man up. The wolf beastman composes himself and barde his fist up and brought down the lion to the ground by his fist on his face. Finishing him off completely just as the antlers landed on the ground.

Tanjirou stares at the scene in front of him completely stunned by what he saw. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, he was having mixed thoughts by this not really sure what went down as he slowly moves from his hiding place and towards the scene. Tanjirou, for all his lifetime, had never such a bruting fight before.

Just as he was about the take a step towards the scene, the fox beastman from before had come up behind him and held him in place. "Don't move!" He tells Tanjirou, holding a knife at his throat. This makes Tanjirou tense, the wolf-man from before looks behind him and his ear twitched when he saw Tanjirou being held hostage.

"If you move, this kid's life is done!" The fox beastman tells him.

"Whose life is done, you said?" The fox beastman stuttered and slowly looks back to see the wolf-man right behind him. Before he could say a word the wolf beastman had pummeled his fist on him to the ground, making him fly up in the air a bit before descending down which the wolf-man pummeled to the ground, repeating this treatment a few times.

"Hold on a minute! Cut it out!" Tanjirou cried, having to step back but he had feared for the beastman's life. The wolf beastman didn't listen to him and kicked the fox towards the two stumbling beastmen, making them fall back unconscious. The wolf batsman slowly stalks towards them but Tanjirou was quick and stands in his way and looks at him in anger and horror by what had happened to them.

"That's enough, isn't it? Do you really have to hurt them so much?!" Tanjirou asked him. The wolf beastman just stared at him blankly, not moved by it at all.

"Don't try to stop me, the festival was ruined because of them." He said.

"Yeah but they're beastman like me and you! How can you do something so cruel?" Tanjirou protested, looking at the wolf with such sorrow. The wolf-man looked at him, before turning towards the beastmen behind him.

"These beastmen were working for the humans," The wolf beastman tells Tanjirou, pushing him back as he stalks forward. "They're a disgrace to all beastmen."

"This is what they deserve." He finished before stomping his foot on the fox beastman's face, making him gape as the wolf-man stomps his foot harder on his face.

"Stop this! There's gonna be another way!" Tanjirou tries to tell him, but the wolf beastman wasn't listening to him and just kept putting pressure on his foot.

Tanjirou couldn't believe this, he grinds his teeth as he looks at the beastman in anger by the cruel treatment he was giving his own kind. As his anger grew, his tail started to spark faintly bright red, and the scar on his forehead shifts a bit. With such anger and courage in himself, Tanjirou stood his place and shouted with all his might.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP!!" Suddenly his tail flares up in a bright red glow and largens behind him before expanding outwards like a wild flame. When the wolf-man heard the sounds of sparks, he turns and is briefly shocked by the tail as it knocks him back. He grunts in surprise as he jumps back and lands on the ground, staring at the glowing tail curiously. The tail stopped glowing and rails back, showing Tanjirou's tail returning to normal, revealing the criminals that the wolf-beastman had beaten up right behind the tanuki. Tanjirou had his arms out and his eyes closed when this happened.

He opened his eyes and narrowed them at the wolf-man as he stands up. "That's enough!" He said. "Why are beastmen fighting among each other? Wasn't this city supposed to be a paradise for beastmen?"

The wolf beastman narrowed his eyes at him as if he was thinking Tanjirou was something so weak to himself for saying such a thing in the first place.

"That's exactly why I'm fighting, humans are the enemies of this city," The wolf-man replied. "any beastmen hired by them are the same as well."

"Not all humans are like that!" Tanjirou protested.

The wolf-man looks down on him as he argues back. "All humans are the same."

"No, they aren't!" Tanjirou said to him. Tanjirou understood, he understood that those he had come to believe were his own kind were doing things with such violence he would be angry too. But he knew that hurting them would only make him be like them as well, not making anything better for them and himself.

He knew that much himself.

"Because..." Tanjirou squinted his eyes, not daring to let the tears that were forming in his eyes drop. He shook his head and looks back at the wolf-man determinedly.

"Because I'm a human too!"

"..."

"..."

They stood there in a moment of silence for a good minute or two. Tanjirou felt the tension in the air, thankfully it was broken as the wolf-man had spoken he thought it was gonna be anger or rage.

He did not expect this...

"... with that appearance?"

* * *

"Eh?" The tanuki boy blinked a few times as if he didn't expect that response from Shirou.

Well, he should. It wasn't like Shirou understood what he meant, it was like he was saying as if he was human. But he could clearly see no proof in that regard at all. Shirou walks towards the stunned tanuki boy as he looks down at his claw hands, he could clearly see that he was trying to process what Shirou had told him.

"B-But I _am_ a human!" The tanuki boy protest, before pouting a bit. "At least I _was_ human..."

Shirou looks over the boy, seeing the qualities himself. Not seeing anything different than the last time he saw him. "so your species is a tanuki."

"Huh?" The tanuki boy blinked once more, looking over at himself as if now realizing just what he was. Making Shirou question the sanity of this boy. "I thought I looked more of a red raccoon to me."

"No you wouldn't, a raccoon has stripes on its tail," Shirou explains, looking back at the tanuki boy. "you're a tanuki."

"Huh... Eh?! A tanuki?! I really am a tanuki!" The tanuki boy exclaimed, holding his head in shock. Shirou just stares at him blankly as the tanuki boy freaks out, strange to see so since this would normally so signs of insanity to anyone else.

Shirou's ear twitched, his eyes turn a bit at a direction. He could hear the faintest sounds of sirens from a distance, it must be the police he thought. He didn't see the tanuki boy paused when he saw Shirou looking over the ally.

"We have to go." He tells him. The tanuki boy looks up at him, before looking back at the unconscious beaten up beastmen.

"But we can't just leave them like this." He says, looking up at Shirou.

"The police will be here any minute, they take care of this," Shirou replies. He walks off not looking back, just when he was about to leave he heard shuffling from where he was at. Shirou looks over at sees the tanuki boy tying the beastmen up with some rope that had no idea was lying around.

"What are you doing?" Shirou asked him. The tanuki boy had finished tying a knot on the rope to keep the three beastmen in place and stands back up, placing his hands on his hips as he admires his work. He looks back and gives Shirou a small smile.

"I figured that it would be easier for the police to tie them up in case they do try to escape when they arrive." The tanuki boy explained to him, Shirou looks back at him.

"I have literally beaten them so they wouldn't do such a thing."

"Well couldn't be safe than sorry, it's just what I do!" The tanuki boy says, giving him a smile.

Shirou sighs at this, before walking over, picking up a piece of cardboard he found lying around, pulls out a marker from his trench coat, and writes on it. The tanuki boy steps aside as he approaches but Shirou paid him no mind as he walks towards the criminals. He finishes writing on the cardboard and puts the marker away before placing it in front of the beastmen.

The tanuki boy looks at the sign and reads it. He looks back at Shirou, giving him a raised brow at what the cardboard said. Shirou looks back at the boy with a blank face.

"It's a note, you'll understand," He just says before turning and walking away. "now follow me. We're wasting time as it is."

Shirou walks off not noticing the tanuki boy looking over the beaten beastmen before following close behind him. The two of them jumped up the escape latter and on top of the building before running off.

This was not something Shirou would have like to do at the end of the festival.

* * *

If there was one thing that he really didn't like that pisses him off during his day-offs, it's when that dear deadpan tone fucker Ogami sends him off to his messes. And Sanemi had to be the one to clean up the mess. He was celebrating at the station with the other police beastmen in his Ainu Dog form with his seventh firebull in hand, it was then that Ogami's little crow Kuro comes flying in from the window and lands on his guardian's, Yuji Tachiki's desk.

That really ticked Sanemi off, he knew right there that it meant Ogami wanted his guardian's help again. Even though the beastman himself was as ruthless as he was, he didn't like to do his dirty work on his breaks. Shaking off the tiredness, Sanemi sits down next to Tachiki as stands still Kuro before taking the piece of paper from his leg. He looks over at the letter and nods before standing up and barks orders. Sanemi groans at this before standing up and follows in his black coat and white scarf.

This was not what he wanted to do on the anniversary.

So he, Tachiki, along with a few police beastmen behind him, follows Kuro as he and the others drove their police cars towards the scene. They get to the scene where it was at an ally, he could smell some fire ashes and dry blood in the air, Sanemi parks at the entrance, and Tachiki steps out of the car, Sanemi as well. At that moment Kuro looks at Tachiki and gives a short nod, which he and Sanemi gives in return, although Sanemi was reluctant, and takes off. Must be going back to Ogami, Sanemi figured.

Tachiki walks forward and looks to see at least three beaten up beastmen tied up in front of him. Sanemi looks over at the note that Ogami must have left in front of them. He reads it and snots at it. Oh, only Ogami would write something like this for him.

"Well, looks like he was here first again," Tachiki sighs as he adjusts his hat. Sanemi looks at the beaten up beastmen and grumbles.

"And once again, I'm still a step behind him," Sanemi mumbled under his breath with a huff. Tachiki sighs at this with a shook head before he barks orders at the police beastmen who do so without trouble. He looks back at Sanemi who clenched his fist in frustration, it was like Sanemi. He was sure Sanemi was trying to compete with Ogami but he's a good kid. Tachiki looks back and looks at the note left behind.

' **THESE SCUM ARE THE BARBARIC BOMBERS** '

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't think I have to show who I aged up but I thought I should let you know that just in case.
> 
> Anywho, are you all excited for the dub of BNA!? I AM!


End file.
